An Erma spouter has never studied history if he/she believes, "This is a glaring example of the need for schools to do a better job educating future voters about the real, historic purposes of political campaigning, which should be about national interests and issues, not petty name-calling and rude or coarse personal comments..." Dirty, negative campaigns go back to Jefferson and Adams in the election of 1800, and even worse mudslinging in the Jackson and J.Q. Adams election of 1828. The real historic purpose of campaigning is to get elected, bottom line.